Product Reviews

My family loves this game, and has for many years. We try to see who can be the most obnoxious. To mix things up a bit, we added a few new rules. First, we took two decks, removed all of the 'good' cards from one deck and combined them with the other. We now have one super deck chock full of special cards. We then implemented the following rules...

Joker: You can no longer end the game, but if you play it, it is wild AND you get to look at the hand of one other player.

Exchange: You can play this and exchange your hand with anyone. If you choose NOT to exchange your hand with someone, then you have to make two other players exchange THEIR hands. If one of those players plays a 'What me worry?' card, then they get to decide who changes hands.

What me worry?: If someone plays a 'draw three' card against you, and you play a 'what me worry' card on them,, they have to draw SIX cards. If they in turn play a What me Worry card on YOUR what me worry... then you have to draw NINE cards, etc.

Draw one Varmit: Since this card had little value, we decided to make it a little more powerful. When it is played, first the other players each draw their one card. Then the SPEED ROUND begins. You must yell out SPEED ROUND just to be obnoxious.

The person immediately to the left of whoever played the DRAW 1 card must play a '1' card. It does not matter what color. The next person in line must play a 2. Then the next person must play a 3, and so on up to 6. The person after the 6, must play a 5, then the next person a 4, etc. The first person to break the chain and not be able to complete the cycle must draw 5 cards. This is to be done quickly, ergo... SPEED ROUND. The only cards that can be played during this Speed Round are the number cards and the regular WILD cards. If you play a WILD card (the plain old wild, not the joker, exchange, wild-n-wooly, etc.) then you get to say any number you want. For instance, if you shout out, '4,' then the next person has to play either a 3 or a 5. If they play a 3, then the next person has to play a 2. If they played a 5, then the next person has to play a 6. The cycle then continues as normal. If they say it's a 1, then then next player HAS to play a 2. If they say it's a 6, then the next player has to play a 5. You can not go 1,2,3,4,5,6,1...; you must go 1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1,2...

NEW RULE: If at any time during the game, you drop a card on the table, you must draw 5 cards for being a klutz. This happens quite often during the speed round.

NEW RULE: When you have one card left, you must yell ONE CARD. If someone catches you with one card and you did not yell it, you draw 5 cards.

NEW RULE: You can now play the 'which way' card back to yourself. If you are holding 6 which way cards, you can play them back to yourself and get rid of them all at one time. This works well in making people think you have a bunch of cards in your hand. It will keep them from exchanging with you. If done correctly, you can go out and win in one fell swoop with around 7 cards in your hand.

NEW RULE: If you can't play, you must draw until you can. If you CAN play, you must. No drawing until you find that one good exchange card. If caught cheating, you are to be taken outside and beaten about the head and shoulders with the family pet.

NEW RULE: When someone says ONE CARD, each player (when it is their turn) can draw ONE card, even if they are able to play. This is the 'But Before I Die...' maneuver, in which the lucky person will draw the exchange card.

We also start out dealing 20 cards to each person. With 3 people playing, we sometimes go through the deck twice before a winner is declared, (or a fist fight breaks out).

There are some other little rules and regulations that you will need to hammer out (preferably not with a REAL hammer on someone's head) when certain instances occur. You will find yourself saying, 'Well, what happens now? I've never run into this situation before. Can he play that?' You will then begin to make up your own regulations as you go, like we did, keeping this the favorite game of the holiday season.

Don't forget to make alliances beforehand, as it's always fun to gang up on a sibling and make them mad. It's especially fun and gives you the warm fuzzy feeling to realize you are making someone mad by playing this silly card game from the 80's, especially when that someone is in their mid 30's.

My sister bought the Mad Magazine Game for a classmate and got the Mad Magazine Card Game for free! It has been a favourite in our family for about fifteen years now and we still enjoy playing it. It's great to play with 2 players, but also with more. There are different kinds of strategies you can follow to win this game. (Like buying as many cards as you can and then trading hands with another player.) But remember: the fun is not in winning, it's in making sure that the other players DON'T win!!! (And having lots of fun along the way.)

As kids me and my sister would play this game hour after hour. It
was a heck of a lot of fun to pass the time away. One day
however, she lost and refused to pack up, even though it was
HER TURN to pack the game away this time.
Little did she know the ramifications of her decision. I warned
her repeatedly that if she did not pack up I would never play MAD
with her again, but this warning was ignored.
Hence 20 years down the track, we have never played the game
since, despite her constant pleading with me. I have resorted to
getting my fix by playing MAD with my wife instead, and needless
to say, she never hesitates to pack up since I told her this story.
A hard lesson to be learned, but a necessary one!